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Saturday, December 17, 2016

The 42nd annual cake show,
organised in association with the National Consumer Fair, was inaugurated on
Friday at St Joseph's Indian High School grounds.

The show will be open to the public from 11 am to 9 pm daily till January 1, 2017.The big attraction this year is the London
Tower Bridge, a 24X7 feet structure made entirely of sugar and weighing over
500 kg. Making the individual towers, suspension cables, and getting the
Victorian Gothic style right took over 700 man hours. Sam Ramachandran, one of
the cake artists, said, "It took a lot of patience because everything has
to be according to measurements. It is much like engineering."

Other major attractions include Thanjavur painting of a female dancer, with finely detailed with edible lace and jewellery. The creator, Purva Sadvilkar took special Thanjavur painting classes six months in advance to prepare for the final piece.

The issue of demonetisation in icing- new Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes blooming on a money tree atop an India-shaped mountain. Explaining the concept, Apoorva Bhargava and Khadijah Madar said, "The rising sun behind the mountain shows that though people are struggling, they are hopeful about benefits of the move. The river flowing down is cleansing the system of black money."

Another star attractions is the model of actor Shankar Nag in icing, a two-storey dollhouse made of cookies, a Rajasthan wedding themed cake, a queen in a Victorian Gown, a book coming alive with tale of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' are among the other attractions.

C Ramachandran, started the cake shows
back in 1974 with a 14-foot model of the Eiffel tower. "I learned the art
of cake decoration in West Germany and England. I want this art to continue
growing," he said. The 76-year-old has now handed over the cake show to
students from the Institute of Baking and Cake Art.

The
state will get its first air ambulance facility in the New Year.While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah formally
launched the air ambulances on Friday, commercial operations will begin in January
2017.

Speaking to journalists after the
launch at the HAL airport here, Arun Sharma, managing director, Aviators Air
Rescue Limited, the service provider, said necessary clearances have been
sought from the Director General of Civil Aviation to operate air ambulances.
The services are from one airport to another as company didn't get permission
to land on site.

The air ambulance would help patients
reach destinations faster besides helping transport organs, blood units, drugs
or medical equipment, he explained. H130 helicopters are medically configured
with emergency medical services, advanced life support medical equipment and a
stretcher. The air ambulance will have a doctor and a paramedic. If the patient
is minor, an attendant will be allowed to fly. The ambulance can support a
patient for 90 to 180 minutes, said Sharma.

The service provider has tied up with
several private hospitals in Bengaluru. Patients would be picked up from their
homes or hospitals by road and taken to a nearby airport. From there, they
would be flown to an airport closer to their chosen destination. "It is a
subscription-based model. For an individual subscription, the cost would be Rs
9,000 a year while a family subscription would cost Rs 18,000. Once the
subscription is availed of, the service can be used any number of times
throughout the year. Individuals without subscription would have to pay Rs 1.75
lakh per hour."

The company has plans to launch similar
services in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to begin with and
later extend them to other states. To avail of the service one can call the
emergency number 155350.

MSD in India has announced leadership change. K. G.
Ananthakrishnan (KG) current Managing Director of MSD in India will retire in
the beginning of 2017 and Vivek Vasudev Kamath will assume role of Managing
Director Designate from December 16, 2016. MSD in India operates its
business in India through three legal entities, MSD Pharmaceuticals Private
Limited, Organon (India) Private Limited, and Fulford (India) Limited.

Vivek joined MSD in India in July 2012 and is currently the
Business Unit Director for Cardiovascular Metabolics and Market Access. KG and
Vivek will work together to ensure smooth transition of business
responsibilities.

Announcing the leadership change, Jan Van Acker, President Asia
Pacific Region, MSD said, “I thank KG for his leadership and his contributions
to MSD over the past ten years and congratulate Vivek on assuming the role of
Managing Director of MSD in India. MSD has a robust succession planning process
through which Vivek was identified to lead MSD in India and to deliver on our
commitment to patients and communities in the Country. He has successfully led
our Cardiovascular Metabolics and Market Access businesses and has fostered
collaborative relationships with our customers and business partners, while
delivering strong growth”

Vivek Vasudev Kamath has over twenty five years of experience
across India, South Asia and ASEAN markets. He brings rich experience with
leading Indian and Multinational healthcare organizations in marketing, sales
and general management. He has managed portfolios in prescription, over-the
counter (OTC) and Diagnostics segments, partnering with healthcare
professionals, consumers, diverse trade channels and Government/ non-Government
healthcare entities.

Microsoft has unveiled
its Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite and Microsoft AppSource in India. These
services will be delivered to customers as Software-as-a-Service (Saas) from
its datacenters in India. Dynamics 365 is a cloud based suite of
applications that integrates CRM and ERP capabilities to provide the full power
of advanced data analytics, machine learning and intelligence to high growth,
new age companies in India. Microsoft AppSource is the new destination for
business users to find and try out line-of-business SaaS apps from Microsoft
and its partners. Presently, AppSource contains more than 200 business SaaS
apps, add-ins and content packs, including exclusive new industry-specific
business apps.

Organizations from
across multiple industry sectors in India are using Dynamics CRM. These include
Max Healthcare, Yes Bank, Reliance Life Insurance Company, SOTC, VLCC,
Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, Annik, Mastek and many more. In the retail
sector, Microsoft Dynamics is used by 55 Retail and DMS customers serving 74
retail brands, empowering 14,000 outlets, enabling 25,000 users in India.

Peter Gartenberg, General Manager, Enterprise Business, Microsoft India said, “With Dynamics 365 we now bring
the combined power of CRM and ERP on a secure and flexible local cloud
platform. Our retail, BFSI and manufacturing customers now don’t need to invest
in expensive and time consuming deployments to start their digital
transformation. Backed by decades of research and investment, we have built
Dynamics 365 to deliver the most advanced analytics and machine learning
intelligence capabilities to our customers in India.”

Anup Purohit, Chief Information Officer, Yes Bank said, “Yes Bank has been using Microsoft
Dynamics CRM for the past one year to deliver optimum services to its retail
banking customers. Since inception, we have believed in using the power of
technology to offer a superior banking experience to our customers, and through
Microsoft Dynamics, we have been able to improve processes, get real-time
business intelligence and make it easier for people to work together through
collaboration across multiple devices. We see huge potential in Microsoft’s
latest innovative solution, Dynamics 365, in terms of enabling banks to enhance
their end-customer experience by leveraging real time insights and
intelligence.”

With the app-based
subscription model customers will only pay for the app they need, licensed to a
particular user. By using these new plans, customers get one holistic
subscription to have all the information at their fingertips, and they could
save four to five times the cost of traditional CRM providers. Customers will
have the option to choose which of the apps they adopt so they can scale on
demand.

Businesses that
embrace digital transformation generate an average of $100 million (or 8%
points) more operating income each year than those who do not. There is a new
speed of business that companies must adapt to, along with the rapidly evolving
customer engagement mechanisms. There is a critical need to innovate in
real-time, and all of this, with finite resources at their disposal. In such a
scenario, Dynamics 365 offers a cost-effective, agile and easy-to-implement
solution that enables personalization and greater productivity, allows
real-time innovation, delivers deeper insights, and adapts to business needs.

Microland, a leading Hybrid IT Infrastructure Service Provider
has announced the appointment of Purnima Menon as Chief Marketing
Officer.

Based out of
Microland’s corporate headquarters in Bangalore Purnima will be responsible for all marketing functions
including global business, strategic marketing, sales enablement and corporate
communications to drive demand and growth for Microland.

“We are very pleased to welcome Purnima to the Microland team.
Purnima brings in extraordinary business expertise and marketing leadership to
Microland. She is well recognised for developing strategies that have
accelerated growth and built brands of some of the words most successful
technology companies. Purnima's insight and industry knowledge will help us
elevate the Microland brand, stimulate increased demand for our solutions and
services as well drive revenue growth. As we look ahead to the future of
Microland, I am confident that Purnima will be a catalyst for change as we
continue to execute our initiatives across our geographies.” said Pradeep Kar,
Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Microland Limited.

Commenting on her appointment as the Chief Marketing Officer,
Purnima Menon said, “I am very excited to join the Microland team and am
looking forward to closely work with the senior management, marketing and
technology teams to make meaningful contributions to the company’s strategic
transformation efforts. Microland is well poised for its next decade of growth
in helping customers leverage the Hybrid IT infrastructure world. My aim will
be to apply my expertise and leverage industry trends to further develop
Microland’s revenue growth across the globe.”

Purnima joins Microland with over 19 years of experience,
providing marketing and strategic thought leadership to large organizations.
Prior to joining Microland, Purnima was the Executive Vice President and Chief
Marketing Officer of a global IT Services Company. Her earlier stints included
Head of Marketing at Infosys BPO and Head of Marcom & PR at Avaya
GlobalConnect. Purnima is the recipient of numerous recognitions, including the
Gold Winner in Online & Social Marketing, Awards for Excellence in Brand
Management as well been chosen to the prestigious 100 most talented
Global Marketing Leaders,

Airtel Payments Bank after having rolled out its pilot services in
Rajasthan last month, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, on Thursday has
now launched its services in Karnataka as well.

“This service will be rolled out across 12,000 Airtel retail outlets. These
outlets will act as banking points, and going forward, we will increase it to
20,000. Apart from 7.5% interest on savings, customers can get one-minute
talk-time free on every rupee deposited, and also get personal accident
insurance worth Rs 1 lakh,” said Airtel Payments Bank MD and CEO Shashi Arora.

He adds that one can
open an account in few minutes with the Aadhaar number, and the Airtel mobile
number will be the account number. “In the case of other service providers,
they will get a separate account number. Everything is paperless and customers
can access services over their mobile phones.

In Rajasthan, over one lakh customers have opened savings accounts in less than
two weeks of commencement of the services.

Airtel Payments Bank plans to develop a nationwide merchant ecosystem of over
30 lakh partners which will include small kirana stores, small shops and
restaurants.

“We have close to one lakh merchants in Karnataka, and we will take this to two
lakh merchants by the end of March, next year,” said Airtel CEO (Karnataka) C
Surendran.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

By Manu SharmaAs Bengaluru witnesses 25% to 30% growth in air traffic during 2015-16, Jet
Airways has planned two major initiatives for this city. Firstly it has commenced direct
daily flights from Bengaluru to Singapore and Colombo respectively from
December 14, 2016, priced at Rs 23,000 for a return economy ticket and Rs
99,000 for the premiere class. The leading airlines will also make Bengaluru its third
major hub in India after Mumbai and New Delhi.

Due to growing
demand on this sector, particularly from business and corporate travelers, effective December
14, 2016, the airline will start its new service to Singapore, further
expanding its connectivity across the ASEAN region.

Praveen
Iyer, VP, Commercial (India Sales), Jet Airways says, "Over the past
two years, there has been an encouraging 15% year-on-year growth from Singapore
to south Indian cities. Apart from business travellers, there are people who
visit friends and relatives in Bengaluru. The ratio between the traffic to population in this city is 1:6. Customers from
Bengaluru can connect to several Asian destinations including Haneda, Hong
Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Penang and Shanghai, as well as leading
Australian ones such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth over Singapore."

Bengaluru, long established as a key IT destination, is
increasingly gaining prominence as a global investment destination, resulting
in a significant growth in aviation traffic – both domestic and international –
into and out of the garden city.

Jet Airways Connects SrilankaStarting January 05, 2016, the airline will also launch its
third international direct daily flight from Bengaluru to Colombo, providing
travelers a convenient link between the Indian IT hub and Sri Lankan capital.

“Bengaluru will be the second Indian city, after Mumbai, to be
linked to Colombo and Jet Airways’ third daily service to the Sri Lankan
capital, expanding capacity by one-third on the route, adds Iyer.

Jet Airways Makes Bengaluru 3Rd Hub in India

After Mumbai and New
Delhi, the airline will make this city its third hub looking at the huge growth
from south India. Infact, Jet Airways records 25% to 30% growth during last
fiscal 2015-16. “We now have8 parking bays at the airport and the total fleet size is 114 aircrafts,” remarks Iyer.

Jet Airways will deploy a
state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) aircraft on both these
routes, offering Premiere and Economy guests the best in-flight product and
services along with award-winning in-flight Entertainment (IFE). Customers will
also be able to select meals from a carefully-curated menu of international and
regional delicacies.

Tally Solutions Private Limited (TSPL) , a premier Indian software product company,
today, announced the launch of its GST mobile application to ensure easy
adoption of the Technology led law. The app will be a rich source of information on Goods and
Services Tax (GST) for businesses and will help them with understanding GST and
its nuances. Its user friendly interface has been designed to cater to both
sets of users - those who are adept with technology and those who are easing
into the use of technology, for better understanding and automation of their
accounting practices. This free enterprise application can be downloaded by
Android and iOS users from their respective App stores.

This initiative is yet another progressive step taken by the
Company to simplify the process of adoption and compliance by businesses in the
country. Tally has constantly been making efforts to equip small businesses and
traders with the right information to train and prepare themselves for the Tax
reform. Recently, Tally qualified as a GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) by the GSTN
Network. They also collaborated with the Confederation of All India Traders
(CAIT) in a bid to train and educate the Trading community on GST. Additionally,
Tally has also launched a blog to help with the provision of the most updated
information on GST and its allied impact on verticals.

Commenting on the launch, the Executive Director of
Tally Solutions, Tejas Goenka said “Tally has been proud of building
the simplest and most advanced technology solutions for businesses over the
past 30 years. After a number of events that we have conducted with our
Partners in the eco-system, across the Nation, we realised the need to develop
an easy to use yet comprehensive tool that would ensure businesses transition
smoothly to GST in the coming year. It is to deliver this solution to the
businesses that we have invested in the Tally for GST App.”

Tally has conducted over 170 events across the Nation with various
partners for GST awareness and training of small businesses. Tally powers more
than a million businesses and is constantly mobilising its manpower and systems
to help ease of transition of their existing as well as additional users to GST
regime. Tally is proactively taking initiatives to impart the right knowledge
and training for GST compliance and enablement right from the grassroots level
in the country.

By Manu SharmaUnlike the developed nations, in India every 1
in 1172 babies is effected with congenital hypothyroidism. Endocrinologists insist on compulsory newborn screening suggesting that the Government of Karnataka to make Amendment in the Healthcare Act so its mandatory for screening both in the government and private hospitals.

Infact, 2008 Goa become the first state to have made this act
mandatory and the panel of endocrinologists in Bengaluru want Karnataka to
become the second state to amend this act.

Our country is slowly emerging as a world
leader in medical advancements. India is now a major provider of health
services and we have some of the most highly skilled and qualified medical
providers in the world. However, quality healthcare and lack of national care
has produced severe health issues throughout the nation. One such major health
concern is that of ‘Congenital
Hypothyroidism’ (CH) which affects numerous newborns in India.

Highlighting the current situation in
Bangalore, Dr Mala Dharmalingam,
(Professor and Head of Department, MS Ramaiah Medical College) said, “Thyroid
hormone plays an important role in development of the brain and other functions
of the body like metabolism, growth and development and deficiency of this
causes Congenital Hypothyroidism. All newborns should definitely be screened
for CH at birth. If not screened, diagnosed and treated in appropriate time; it
can lead to mental retardation. Once a baby is diagnosed with CH, the baby is
started on thyroid hormone replacement. Today, though the levels of awareness
remain low in general, we have seen a considerable increase in number of babies
being screened since most gynecologists are now recommending screening at
birth.”

Most newborns with Congenital Hypothyroidism
appear normal at birth, even if there is complete lack of development of the
thyroid gland. This is because a small amount of thyroid hormone (T4) from the
mother is transferred to the baby during pregnancy. Around 10 per cent of infants with
Congenital Hypothyroidism have other associated abnormalities; most commonly
witnessed are cardiac abnormalities followed by abnormalities of the nervous
system and eyes.

Stressing on the importance of timely
identification and treatment, Dr
Anjana Hulse(Consultant Pediatric Endocrinologist, Apollo Hospitals),
stated, “In most cases of Congenital Hypothyroidism, children do not have
evident symptoms and they appear to be physically normal and therefore
difficult to detect. There is a need to have a legislation which mandates
universal screening programmes. The treatment is simple and cost effective.
Levothyroxine given orally everyday is the treatment of choice. No baby should
be left to suffer the circumstances because he/she was undiagnosed.”

Highlighting the precautionary measures
expecting mothers should take, Dr
Nishita Rao, (Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lakshmi
Maternity and Surgical Centre), said, “The birth of their baby is probably
one of the most memorable moments in a parent’s life. In order to keep the
newborn safe from any complications, screening is extremely important.What is
most important is for expecting mothers to be more aware and keep thyroid
levels under a constant check. Early detection and supplementation of thyroid
hormone is easy, inexpensive and effective. Small and simple preventive
measures can reduce large number of complications.”

On a concluding note, Dr Praveen Ramachandra, (Director
– Endocrinologist, Diaplus Clinic, Yelahanka Newtown),“Of all endocrine
disorders that a child can be born with, CH, is not only one of the most
common, but also the most detrimental if not detected in time. If every new
born is screened; no child will suffer from disastrous effects of Congenital
Hypothyroidism.”

Monday, December 12, 2016

Digital payments platform Paytm has announced
a toll-free number to enable consumers and merchants without an internet
connection to pay and receive money instantly and also recharge their mobile
phones.

Customers and merchants will need to register with Paytm their
mobile number and set a four digit paytm PIN, the company said in a statement
here. “They (users) can then enter the recipient’s mobile number, amount and
their Paytm PIN to successfully transfer the money from their Paytm wallet to
another Paytm wallet,” it said.

“We are committed to enabling more and more Indians to transact
digitally. The launch of our new toll free payment number (180018001234), is
another significant step in that direction. This will allow even non-smartphone
users across India to go cashless,” Nitin Misra, senior vice president, Paytm
said.

Currently, over a million offline merchants across India accept
Paytm as their preferred payment mode, the company claimed.

Having opened over one lakh savings accounts
within a fortnight of launch of its pilot services in Rajasthan, Airtel
Payments Bank is gearing up to extend the services to southern states starting
this week.

“We are getting into South India within a week... a couple of
states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka,” Airtel Payments Bank CEO
Shashi Arora toldthis agencies.

Airtel Payments Bank is the first payments bank in India to go
live.

Arora said these states have a deep rural market where the
opportunity to offer banking benefit to financially excluded and the unbanked
population is large. “We would be rolling out with about 20,000 retail outlets
in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined, and another 15,000 or so, in
Karanataka,” he said.

Arora added that it is a “matter of just a few weeks” before
Airtel Payments Bank launches services across India. “The fact that we have
presence in telecom circles across India, gives the payment bank the ability to
scale up significantly in a short span of time,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Airtel Payments Bank said it has
opened over 100,000 savings accounts within a fortnight of rollout of its pilot
services in Rajasthan.

Close to 70 per cent of these accounts opened are in rural
areas, highlighting the massive scope for serving customers in unbanked and
underbanked pockets, the statement added.

In Rajasthan, Airtel Payments Bank is rolling out pilot services
across 10,000 Airtel retail outlets, which also act as banking points.

Airtel Payments Bank plans to have a network of 100,000
merchants (shops) across Rajasthan by the end of the year. All these merchants
will accept digital payments via Airtel Payments Bank using a mobile phone.

With the objective of deepening financial inclusion, RBI kicked
off an era of differentiated banking with SFB (small finance bank) and PB
(payments bank), and 21 entities, including 11 for payments bank, were given
in-principle nod last year.

Later, three entities — Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment
and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor
Financial Services — backed out of the payments bank licensing.

Payments banks can accept deposits and savings bank deposits from
individuals and small businesses, up to a maximum ofRs.1 lakh per
account.